Congressional Leaders Issue Rare Bipartisan Letter Urging Concrete U.S. Action to Help Persecuted Family of Blind Legal Activist Chen Guangcheng
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WASHINGTON, May 11, 2013 /
Christian Newswire/ -- In a rare bipartisan act, Congressional leaders on Friday sent a letter to the Obama administration calling for concrete action to help end Chinese government persecution against the family of blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng.
The letter to Secretary of State John Kerry was signed by both House Speaker John Boehner and Minority leader Nancy Pelosi as well as six other senior members of Congress including Chen's longtime Congressional champions Congressmen Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.), and suggests four specific ways the United States can show the Chinese government that its treatment of Chen's extended family in Shandong province is unacceptable.
They include pushing for medical treatment for the imprisoned and ailing nephew of Chen Guangcheng, who is suffering from acute appendicitis, visiting him in prison and seeking medical parole for him; a meeting between Kerry and Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing; and denial of U.S. visas to the 44 officials, including Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member and first-ranked vice premier Zhang Gaoli, who have actively participated in persecution against Chen and his family and who are named on a list provided by Chen at a Congressional hearing a month ago.
The letter reminded Kerry that the Chinese side had promised not to harm Chen's family when Chinese and U.S. official reached an agreement a year ago to allow Chen and his wife and children to leave China for the United States.
However, Chinese authorities have engaged in escalating persecution against Chen's extended family since Chen's departure, especially following Chen's testimony before a Congressional hearing on April 9.
See our earlier reports:
Most recently, on May 9, Chen's oldest brother, Chen Guangfu, was violently attacked, and the phone line to their mother's home was rendered non-operational. Chen Guangfu's "Weibo," or Chinese microblog, has also been shut down.
The letter said, "Chen Guangcheng and his family have suffered greatly at the hands of Chinese officials in Shandong Province" and their experiences have "further revealed, in stark terms, a troubling trend of Chinese officials abusing, harassing, and intimidating the families of human rights activists in order to try to pressure these brave men and women into abandoning their important work."
ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu, who has been spearheading the efforts to raise awareness of the plight of Chen's family, said, "We applaud the effort of Congress' bipartisan leadership to address this critical issue of the escalating retaliation against the Chen Guangcheng family."
Fu, a close friend of Chen, added, "We continue to urge President Obama to personally intervene in this case. Failing to hold China accountable will not only potentially have dire consequence for the life of Chen Kegui, but more importantly, it could put the credibility of the U.S. leadership at stake."
